


The Challenges We're Facing

by TheSadisticMunchkin



Series: 30 Days of Hamburr Challenge [12]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: 30 Days of Hamburr, 30 Days of Writing, A lot - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, American Politics, Angst, Baby Burr makes a comeback bc i like making him cry, Comfort/Angst, Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, First Kiss, Hate Crimes, Hurt/Comfort, Lots of Crying, M/M, Non-Graphic Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-12
Updated: 2016-04-12
Packaged: 2018-05-30 18:37:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6435793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSadisticMunchkin/pseuds/TheSadisticMunchkin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Aaron, I have to admit I thought you were the pissbaby of my friend group.”</p><p>Aaron becomes a victim of a hate crime, which resulted in an uproar amongst the Democratic-Republicans, which resulted in him almost getting pulled out of the Senate, which resulted in... absolutely normal behavior that baffles Hamilton to a breaking point.</p><p>Day 12 of the 30 Days of Hamburr Self-Induced Challenge of 2016</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Challenges We're Facing

**Author's Note:**

> This fic id dedicated to alexanburrsir on tumblr! Your posts are a riot, my friend! Keep it up, you make me smile :)
> 
> Gosh I just have a thing of making Burr cry??? Is that just me??

If there was one thing that Alexander Hamilton was sure about it was that Aaron Burr gets hurt very easily.

 

It wasn’t just in the offended kind but also in every kind of way possible. He cried easily and would be locked up in his room if someone reminded him that he wouldn’t have anyone to love. Alexander saw it first and foremost in college when he was his roommate. Sometimes Aaron would come back to the room in a drunken stupor because he failed a test. Sometimes he would cry on the bed by himself when he thought Alex wasn’t listening.

 

Aaron was  _ weak  _ and Alex was okay with that.

 

He didn’t have to be strong at all and it was almost refreshing to see someone so openly emotional. He was still a beast, a succinct and persuasive man, in the courtroom but in the privacy of their shared apartment, his walls would crash down. It reminded Alex that no matter what, anything could eat someone up inside. Life doesn’t discriminate between the sinners and the saints. If life decided to take everything from Aaron, life would have to go through Alex first.

 

It wasn’t until one fateful day in July did he realize that he was dead wrong about him.

 

He didn’t notice that he was already gone by the time he got to the apartment. He didn’t notice until he was already inside and asked him if he wanted to have sushi for dinner. When he realized that Aaron wasn’t there, he panicked. He immediately called Aaron’s phone and when nothing came up, he called the rest of his friends. A search party commenced finding his roommate around New York City after that.

 

It took them an hour and if it took any longer, he would have been dead in the streets.

 

Of course, since Aaron Burr was a public figure as he worked in the senate office, the media was quick to pick up on what happened to him. Some punk was able to take a picture of the alleyway they found Aaron in, the writing on the wall that looked ominously red visible, and the picture spread on the internet rapidly. Aaron’s publicity team tried to remove it but once it was on the internet, it was history.

 

**_Aaron Burr is nothing but a filthy, gay whore!_ **

 

Alexander crumpled up the New York Post in his hands and threw it as hard as he could towards the trash can. To think his  _ own  _ fucking News publishing company would make that the front page. He specifically told them  _ not  _ to but they didn’t listen. He ended up firing 20 people that day. He wanted to find out who was the guy who beat up Aaron and got away. He wanted to find him and tell him the real definition of filthy once his fist hits his face.

 

He could only imagine how  _ Aaron  _ felt.

 

Now, he came out to the press a month after he was made Treasury Secretary. He recently moved into a brand new Apartment with Aaron because as an economic man, he was all about saving money. Aaron accepted of course and no one thought anything of it. During that time before he came out, they just thought they were great friends who would not let the two-party system ruin what they had. That was still who they were but once he came out, all hell broke loose.

 

Threats were made. Photographs of them walking together were on the tabloids in no time. The President received weekly letters from incompetent people asking him to remove Secretary Hamilton from the cabinet. He saw it coming and he would be lying if he said he wasn’t scared shitless of what the future held for him. Soon enough, the hype died down and so many people started supporting him. His bisexuality was now the least of the government’s worries, as it should be.

 

Aaron was different. Aaron was a Republican on the senate seat of New York. His supporters and sponsors were much less accommodating than Hamilton’s Democrats. Alexander wasn’t quite sure what reason, whether it was political or personal, that got Aaron to be a victim of a hate crime but he worried for him. The house has been getting calls that they will remove Aaron from the senate seat if the hate got too much. No one would trust him anymore as their senator.

 

All because they couldn’t stand who Aaron could love.

 

Alexander would visit his hospital room every night until he got released. He brought his laptop so he could skype some people who were too far away which brought a smile to Aaron’s face every time. When they left, he was casual and the usual small talk they had all the time returned. Alexander thought it was completely unusual for him. Wasn’t this the same Burr who would cry when a girl wouldn’t say yes to a date? Wasn’t this the same Burr who almost burned himself on a candle and proceeded to write in his diary about it?

 

Wasn’t Burr  _ weak?  _

 

“Aaron?”

 

The New York senator looked up from the book he was currently reading at Alex, who was sitting on top of the kitchen counter. They were both waiting for the frozen pizza they just decided to cook to finish up in the microwave when Alex broke the comfortable silence. Well, to Aaron it was comfortable. Alexander Hamilton couldn’t _ stand _ silence unless it was a productive silence. As much as he would like to admit it, waiting for a pizza to cook was  _ not  _ productive silence. “Yes, Alexander?”

 

Alex twiddled his thumbs a little bit in his lap and refused to look back at Burr. “Are you okay?” That was the best thing he could ask without sounding completely stupid. He knew perfectly well that Aaron wasn’t okay. In fact, he was already predicting Aaron to start sobbing at the mention of him not being totally okay. He knew his best friend like the back of his hand. How else was he supposed to react? Like the world was fine and he wasn’t recovering from a hate crime?

 

He didn’t expect the genuine smile he got in return. “I’m fine.” 

 

_ Fine. _

 

_ I’m fine. _

 

_ Fine? _

 

“You’re… fine? Nothing hurts or anything?” Aaron just shrugged and placed a bookmark on the page where he stopped. Alexander watched, dumbfounded, as his friend made his way to the microwave and poked at the timer lightly. “I mean… I’m pretty starving. Is that pizza ready yet?” Aaron didn’t even notice the cover up before he replied that it would be ready in a minute. Alexander continued to stare as the youngest New York senator in history, recent victim of a hate crime, and now outed bisexual, walked around the kitchen like a typical Tuesday night.

 

Besides, it was a fucking  _ Wednesday.  _

 

They sat in silence again as they ate their pizza. Alex was getting pretty frustrated because Aaron was seriously acting like nothing was wrong. He would occasionally type something on his phone or chuckle at something he read in his book but that was it. It felt like every other dinner they had for the past 6 years except for the fact that Alex wasn’t talking non-stop. He thought Aaron had the emotional quotient of his pinkie finger. 

 

He couldn’t  _ stand _ it anymore.

 

He slammed his fist on top of the table, which resulted in his slice of pizza bouncing slightly off his plate. Aaron finally looked up at him with an annoyed expression. At least, there was  _ some  _ emotion there. It was an improvement from his passive face in front of all the press a while ago. “Alexander, are you alright?”

 

“Oh don’t you  _ Alexander  _ me! What’s your fucking deal?”

 

“I’m… not sure what you mean?”

 

“Don’t play dumb Burr! You graduated college at 16!” Alex went around the dinner table and trapped Aaron in between his arms using the chair. “You were beat up 2 weeks ago. Some asshole decided that who you loved was a national offense. Tabloids ate up all the pictures they have of us calling it fucking  _ proof  _ that Aaron Burr was a queer republican this entire time! You almost  _ lost  _ your senate seat and Jefferson even threatened to cut you off from their running party so what is your  _ fucking  _ deal?”

 

Alexander immediately regretted yelling at Burr when he saw a flash of hurt in his eyes at the volume of his voice. He deflated slightly and sat down across from him to look less intimidating. Sitting down, Alex was about a head shorter than Burr but he kept his hands gripped tight on the arms of Aaron’s chair. “I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I’m just, I don’t know, confused? Man, I’m really sorry. The volume of my voice was out of line.”

 

“It’s okay, Alex.” Burr’s voice was soft but steady and it  _ infuriated  _ Alex again.

 

“You know what? No. It’s  _ not  _ okay.” He wasn’t mad at Burr for being so neutral about the entire thing. He was mad at everyone around him that told him this. He was mad at the people and experiences that taught him to keep his mouth shut and smile charmingly all the time. He was mad at life for bringing him to a man who had  _ so much potential  _ but calculated each and every move like he was walking on eggshells every time.

 

Careful to keep his voice much softer, this time, he continued. “Aaron, I have to admit I thought you were the pissbaby of my friend group.” The slightly appalled expression on Aaron’s face made him smirk a little bit before he schooled his face into a more serious expression. “Back in college you practically  _ cried  _ at everything that made you upset. You also drank quite a lot and sang your feelings away at the karaoke bar.

 

“And that’s fine, Burr! Express yourself as much as you can and let people know what makes you comfortable or not! I admired that about you, how you calculated how your actions would go but made sure you got your point across. During the times I thought you weren’t even human, your tears would remind me you’re just as scared as me.” Right on cue, a few tears started welling up in Aaron’s eyes and Alex cradled his face in both of his hands.

 

“I’m sorry I’m saying all of this but… Your life just went to complete  _ shit  _ around you, bro.” His voice was even softer this time and their faces were only inches apart. “Sometimes, when I’m in bed, I wonder if I’m the only one getting nightmares of you getting hurt again. I don’t hear you wake up after a horrible dream. I don’t hear you sobbing in your room. Most of the time it’s  _ me  _ who is scared as  _ fuck  _ for you.

 

“I would dream that you would get beat up again or, worse, killed. I would wander into the wee hours of the morning  _ what would my life be without Aaron Burr _ , my first friend, my political enemy.” At the words  _ first friend,  _ Aaron’s tears finally fell but he took in a shaky breath to keep himself from openly sobbing. “I’m wondering if you get those dreams too? I’m asking if you also wake up at night and sob into your pillow to muffle the sounds of how much you’re in pain?

 

“I know that you want to be strong for everyone else. I’m even going to throw caution to the wind and say you want to be strong for me too but Aaron… if you want to be weak, you can be around me. I won’t judge you. You know that, right?” He tried to give him a smile but Aaron’s lips were trembling at this point. He wiped away a few of his tears with the pads of his thumbs and he wished the world wasn’t so cruel to his Aaron.

 

_ His Aaron.  _

 

“Aaron, sweetheart, it’s okay to cry.”

 

The pet name was the last straw for the senator and he finally opened up his mouth and let out the most heart-wrenching sob. This was what Alexander expected but he never really expected it to sound so  _ helpless.  _ He clutched on to Alexander as if he was the only thing stopping him from crossing the line into insanity. As much as he wanted to be strong for Aaron too, he couldn’t stop his own tears from falling.

 

He buried his head into Aaron’s shoulder and sobbed with him. Together, their sobs turned into a symphonic cacophony which only made Aaron hold onto him tighter. Alex thought he heard Aaron muttering something but he quickly shushed him and said it was going to be okay. They may not be okay now but they will be. As long as Aaron doesn’t bottle up his feelings every time and Alex won’t push him too much, they would be just fine.

 

_ Fine. _

 

Somewhere along the way, Aaron must have muttered a thank you because Alex was smiling again. He squeezed the man’s shoulders in comfort before pulling away slightly to look at him properly. “No matter what happens we have each other, okay?”

 

“O-Okay.”

 

Alex tilted Aaron’s chin up from his chest using two fingers so he could look him straight in the eyes. “You’re going to be okay.” He whispered and Aaron could only nod back up at him. They were silent for a whole minute before Alex felt Aaron shift in his arms so that their faces were leveled with each other. There was no fanfare, no fireworks, no angelic choir when Aaron captured his lips in a long and much-awaited kiss.

 

There was only the silence that engulfed them and the promise of a future where _ they will be okay. _

 

That was enough for them.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are very much appreciated <3


End file.
